Matt Brooks

SM58 – Something about the SM58 in this application sounds really pleasant to my ears. It
sounds like one of the purer takes on the vocal out of the bunch. It has a really nice sound when
capturing the fundamental frequencies of the voice which is essential in this example, but it
also has some clarity, in which I feel like I can hear a bit more air passing through (which could
also just be a technique thing). In any case, it captures the voice very nicely from fundamental
tones through the harmonics.
U87 – The U87 in this case reminds me of the SM58 in purity but is also a bit smoother in
comparison. I feel that the U87 most accurately captures the voice here. If I’m completely
honest, I found the U87 take somewhat less pleasant to listen to than the SM58 take, but a part
of that may be related to that particular performance.
441 – I didn’t hate this one. It has a nice sweet sound, picking up what sounds like lower
frequencies of the fundamental and some higher frequencies that add some clarity. Overall, it
has a darker character to my ears than the SM58, to the point of being a bit too much. I don’t
think I would reach for this one for this application, but it doesn’t do a bad job.
414 Cardioid – Overall, I felt like this microphone captured a lot of the upper harmonics of the
voice very well, particularly when vibrato was applied. I don’t think I got enough of the
fundamental, at least for the sound that I feel I want to hear when recording this type of
singing. It sounded somewhat less full than the U87 and the SM58.
414 Omnidirectional – This was certainly my least favorite of the bunch. This probably sounds a
bit worse than it should because it was recorded in an isolation booth and not in the tracking
room, meaning that the sound of the singer’s voice reflecting off of the glass was being picked
up into the microphone as well, creating a very unpleasant almost bedroom-like sound. You can
hear how the mic still picks up a solid amount of harmonics and not a whole lot of the
fundamental.

I think in a mix, I would either use the U87 take or the SM57 take.

Some important things to note are that the singer’s performance did vary a bit from time to
time, especially as she warmed up more. This makes it somewhat more difficult to assess the
character of each mic in this application. With that said, I still don’t think I would grab a 414 for
this application on either Cardioid or Omnidirectional modes. I don’t think I would immediately
reach for a 441 either, as it doesn’t really pick up some of the higher fundamentals contained in
this singer’s voice.